The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s10.6

c9.s10.6

In the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (V. 1, 5, 14) there is an account of the political sacrifice, called the *rājasūya*. In this connection the *rājanya* or king has to practise a ceremonial shooting as he is likewise called upon to do many other ceremonial things.³⁷ The ceremony requires seventeen shootings. It is by seventeen shootings that the king can win or become Prajāpati who is "seventeenfold" or is the outcome of seventeen drums, whatever all this may mean. In any case, we get the following equation: